The best ideas often happen in the most unexpected places and inopportune times when your mind is aimlessly engaged in a nonspecific activity. The best thing you can do under such circumstances is capture those fleeting ideas, thoughts, and feelings before they vanish forever. Some do it on the back of the napkin. The more organized ones do it with a notebook at hand.

Creativity is the cornerstone of imagination and progress. Is your business - are you - moving forward? Imagine, for a moment, you're at a company-wide offsite. You’ve been placed at a table with several acquaintances (perhaps even strangers). You all work in different departments.

Whether you write, code, sell, or present for a living, try devoting at least fifteen minutes a week to exploring failure. (Although you probably shouldn't experiment with this in a high-stakes environment.)